Produced liquid systems used with gas wells regularly contain some amount of included gas. Gas interferes with the performance of liquid gathering systems. The gas must, therefore, be vented to the atmosphere either through collection tanks or through “air eliminator” devices that exhaust the gas to the atmosphere. However, venting the gas converts it from a valuable commercial product into a pollution stream.
Accumulation of gas within a water gathering system increases gathering system pressure by splitting the liquid stream. Gas accumulation additionally prevents pressure recovery on the downhill side of hills, which requires that supply pressure be equal to a hydrostatic head that is the aggregated sum of all uphill traverses within the gathering system. Removing the accumulated gas from the system allows the liquid on the downhill portion of the system to “pull” the liquid on the uphill portion, significantly lowering required supply pressure.